FILM AUSTRALIA COLLECTION

Title Details

Rail Way, The

A wide-ranging look at Australian railways - from the city underground to the railway of the remote outback.
Year : 1979 | Total Duration : 25 Minutes | Producer : Don Murray
Director : Greg Reading |
Production of steel railway line. Molten steel poured in to mould. Red hot steel rectangular block extracted from heat. Factory workers oversee production. Steel block shaped as railway line. Machinery lays line onto track. Railway workers hammer metal pins to secure the line. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 24533 | 36 secs | 1970s | Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Fast train towards camera. Titles ÒThe Rail WayÓ. CU of train wheel travelling on track. Narrator Patsy Adam-Smith walks alongside stationary train. Adam-Smith seated in library looking through archival photo album. Various stills of early steam trains. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 24540 | 1 min 20 secs | 1970s | Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
The Prospector, three carriage electric train travelling in countryside on Perth to Kalgoorlie trip. Interior of passenger cart. Men served drinks. Waitress serves passengers. Train travelling. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 24544 | 30 secs | 1970s | WA, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Camel train across top of sand embankment. Workers with horses levelling land for the Trans- Continental Railway. Workers laying sleepers along track and hammering in metal ties. Open carriage crowded with workers leaves work site. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 24549 | 47 secs | 1910s | WA, Australia | © NFSA | B&W |
Various shots of grader levelling land for construction of new railway line to Alice Springs. Workers check concrete sleepers as they are dropped by machine. Sleepers secured by two-man operated welding machine. Railway line laid on to sleepers. Workers with sledgehammer pound metal ties connecting the sleeper to the line. Ballast laid by machine covering sleepers. Workers take a smoko. Shots of workers looking straight to camera. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 24556 | 3 mins 10 secs | 1970s | NT, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Segment from ÒJourney of A NationÓ. Shadow of travelling steam train. Young boy watches as train passes. Interior of passenger carriage. Passengers in compartment eating, reading and sleeping. Train stops. Guard calls for train change. Passengers leave compartment. Young boy questions his mother about changing trains. Couple search for their tickets. Crowded platform. Animals and goods loaded on and off train. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 24569 | 1 min 40 secs | 1940s | Australia | © NFSA | B&W |
Railway control room. Operator at control panel observes the lighted board representing the various rail lines. Railway yard with workers placing large steel wheels on track preparing for arrival of a different gauge train. Operator at control panels and lit board. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 24571 | 18 secs | 1970s | Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Between Leigh Creek and Port Augusta in SA to overcome gauge differences a pickaback train system is in operation. Cars on railway wagons are loaded onto the flat top trucks of another set of carriages. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 24572 | 21 secs | 1950s | SA, Australia | © NFSA | B&W |
Diesel train towards camera and past in flat open country. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 24576 | 16 secs | 1970s | Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Train entering underground rail system. Train arrives at platform during peak hour. Passengers alight. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 24577 | 9 secs | 1920s | Australia | © NFSA | B&W |
City rail lines. Train coming in to station. Interior of double-decker suburban train as it arrives station. Male passenger reads newspaper. Passengers on platform board train. Passengers on travelling train. Cars and train head south across Sydney Harbour Bridge. View across Sydney CBD, cityscape from Harbour Bridge. Train as it heads towards tunnel. Train in tunnel. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 24579 | 1 min 43 secs | 1970s | Sydney, NSW., Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Worker uncoupling goods wagons of freight train. Melbourne freight yard. Man in control box using computer to sort the freight wagon destinations. Single wagon on track in yard. Truck loaded onto wagon. Long haul freight train with logs crosses country railway crossing. Freight train carrying Holden cars slowly travels along tracks. Containers loaded onto freight train. Cattle walking up ramp onto freight wagon. Iron ore deposits dropped from freight train as it travels over bridge. Mining site. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 24613 | 2 mins 16 secs | 1970s | Melbourne, VIC; Qld, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Men working on railway line. Workers stand aside as Indian Pacific passenger train passes. Interior of Indian Pacific. Two young girls look out of windows from their sleeper. Waiter knocks on door of cabin. Driver in train. POV driver as train travels. Passengers in lounge cart having a drink. Tables being set in dining cart. Inter cut with B/W archival footage of dining cart being set. Two women playing cards. Inter cut with B/W archival footage of group of men playing cards. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 24649 | 1 min 24 secs | 1970s | Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Front of K153 steam train. Coal shovelled into burner of steam train. Side of train. People on platform observing steam train. Driver polishes gauges of front carriage. People on platform talk to driver leaning out of carriage. Man takes photograph. Steam whistles from train. Baby in stroller. Man with loud hailer gives directions from station platform. Patsy Adam-Smith walks along platform. She boards steam train. Steam train leaves platform. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 24681 | 1 min 3 secs | 1970s | Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Rail workers in Bobcat drive along the site of an underground rail tunnel. Workers operate massive drill machine driving it through rock. New platform being prepared. Normanton railway station in Gulf of Carpentaria. Rail car loaded with goods for trip to Croydon. Rail car leaves station. Driver and passengers in rail car. Rail car travelling in outback area. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 122990 | 3 mins 3 secs | 1970s | Gulf of Carpentaria, NT, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Men in operation room controlling drop of iron ore into freight wagons. 1.5 kilometre iron ore freight train in Central Queensland crossing railway crossing. Driver in car waits as it passes. Freight train driver with control panels drives train. Freight train travelling. Man at desk in control room adjusts switch board. Freight train driver driving. POV train driver. CU lighted control board. Aerial of coastal mine site. B/W archival footage of freight train in distance travelling through desert. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 122991 | 2 mins 24 secs | 1970s | Qld, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Kitchen staff preparing meal. Inter cut with B/W archival footage of cook preparing meal. Soup poured into bowls. Passengers served their meal. Inter cut with B/W archival footage of men eating in dining cart. Passengers eating their meals. Train travelling across barren landscape. Inter cut with B/W archival footage of young girl sitting in rear observation deck of travelling train. Interior of drivers cabin. Driver travelling at night. Train workers having a break in the dining cabin. Train driver pulls whistle. Dining cart. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 122995 | 1 min 22 secs | 1970s | Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Steam train leaves platform. Patsy Adam-Smith looks out from window of train compartment. As steam train departs passengers lean out of train windows. CU Adam-Smith. Steam train passes stationery electric trains. Steam train travelling. Steam train travelling alongside moving electric train. End credits. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 122996 | 2 mins 41 secs | 1970s | Australia | © NFSA | Colour |